IRA KANDELL IN THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

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Theater & Arts

• Theater & Arts January 24, 2015
• Disney World’s American Theater

Review: IRA KANDELL: THAT INCREDIBLE VOICE

By Matthew J. Palm

Ira Kandell has performed at Disney World’s Epcot since 1984. Every year, he arrives with the Tom Harrell seven piece band to an audience of about 2,600 people every night for about three weeks. And with all the publicity he seems to garner, I had to wonder if he is worth the visit. The American Theater itself has had a complete renovation including the sound, and the stage has been shortened to allow more seating. This allows the audience a better view, and screens on both side of the stage were also added.  A new box office has also been added to the American exhibit across from the theater. The cost to see a concert was raised to $35.00 on a first come first serve basis. As in the past, the audience starts lining up at the theater about two hours before the concerts presented there. Kandell has been here since January 15^th, and he is expected to stay here into February even though the signs right now say January 31^st.

There are few singers in the United States who still give concerts with Broadway songs, the genre having been taken over by rock stars, hip-hop, jazz and the like. There are also few singers left who have an operatic voice that literally booms into the large theater with an incredible sound. By the time Kandell gets to the end of a song, the notes seem to last forever as his control of the bel canto type numbers ring into the sky. The fact that the theater greatly fixed their sound system seems to have opened up Kandell’s use of the microphone which he purposely leaves standing in one place, never touching it. This allows the audience to pay attention to him as he moves from song to song, first fast and furious ones like “I Feel A Song Coming On” to “Hey, Look Me Over” on to “Younger Than Springtime” which every tenor has tried, but few sing it very quietly at the beginning and justify a big loud ending he way Ira Kandell can sing it. The show was a long ninety minute culture shock as Kandell weaves a magic spell with “Pisces of Dreams,” and “If She Walked Into My Life.” I haven’t heard these songs sung by anyone in many years, and Kandell polished them off, dusted off the years, and made them new all over again. He also decided on “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” a beautiful song from Funny Girl. I have never heard this particular song with a male singer, and it was cut from the film. Kandell turns this number into a spell binder. He is gently followed by the piano of Tom Harrell for most of the concert.

But the band gets a chance during “I’ve Got A lot of Living To Do” and with “When The Red-Red Robin Comes A-Bobbing Along” both sung full voice with Kandell reaching for those high notes. Kandell is a heavy set man with a big smile, who uses his arms and hands to punctuate the lyrics of the songs he sings. He stabs into the air sending a telegram to the audience. There were constant standing ovations, almost after every single song. People in the theater yelling to Ira, “We Love You, Ira!” I have never seen an audience do this before, expect maybe with Liza Minnelli. The audience truly appreciated his efforts at creating his persona, a vaudevillian singer with a beautiful sounding voice. I recommend you catch this performer at Epcot.